Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 14th and 15th February, 2016. These are important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016.

Current Affairs at a Glance - 14th and 15th February, 2016

Information Technology sector employees get the highest pay in India with
a median gross hourly salary of Rs. 346.42, while those in the manufacturing
sector get paid the least at Rs. 254.04, says a report. According to Monster
Salary Index (MSI), the IT sector is the highest paying sector in India, but
only 57.4 per cent are satisfied with their salary.

Vedanta Limited has reached an understanding with the Government of Odisha to commission
an aluminum park in Jharsuguda.

Mahindra & Mahindra to invest Rs 8,000 cr in Maharashtra

As per the Swachh Survekshan results announced by the government on
Monday, ​Dhanbad in Bihar was said to be
the dirtiest city while Mysuru won the
crown for the cleanest city.

LAMITYE 2016, the 7th joint military training exercise between the IndianArmy and the SeychellesPeople’s Defence Forces (SPDF) began on
15 February 2016.

Barsimlaguri Becomes Northeast's First 'Smart Village'

1st Mega Food Park (MFP) of Madhya Pradesh was on 12 February 2016
inaugurated at Panwa village in Kasarwad tehsil of Khargone district.

Jugnoo, leading mobile app that offers largest network of auto
rickshaws across country, has signed a dual deal with popular TV and film
actress SaumyaTandon. The actress who has
been appointed ambassador will also
invest in the auto rickshaw agregator.

Hypercity names Ramesh Menon as new CEO

Ashok Chawla appointed as Chairman of TERI

Indian-American Ranvir Trehan named Kennedy Centre trustee

The 69th British Academy Films Awards (BAFTAs) were announced on 14
February 2016. The award ceremony was held at the Royal Opera House in London. Wilderness
drama The Revenant, starring Leonardo
DiCaprio, won the Best Film Award. Brooklyn was named the Outstanding British
Film. Leading Actor award was
conferred to Leonardo DiCaprio for
The Revenant. Brie Larson won Leading
Actress Award for Room. Alejandro G.
Iñárritu won Best Directoraward
for The Revenant.

Tata Steel wins TIME's best in class for manufacturing award

World Radio Day observed on 13 February

Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner
Martina Hingis on 14 February 2016 won the 2016 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy in
St. Petersburg, Russia.

West Indies beats India to win their first U-19 World Cup

Sindh becomes first Pakistan province to adopt Hindu Marriage Bill

Biraja Prasad, who was posted recently as Ambassador to Tajikistan, passed away.

Information Technology sector
employees get the highest pay in India with a median gross hourly salary of Rs.
346.42, while those in the manufacturing sector get paid the least at Rs.
254.04, says a report.

According to Monster Salary Index
(MSI), the IT sector is the highest paying sector in India, but only 57.4 per
cent are satisfied with their salary.

BFSI sector comes in second with
a median salary of Rs. 300.23. The relatively higher remuneration reflects the
high level education of workers with 16-17 years of schooling, the report
noted.

Notwithstanding, the government’s
focus towards the sector through its Make in India initiative, manufacturing
sector is paid the least, as employees in this segment are paid about 9 per
cent lesser than the median salary for the entire Indian economy taken together
at Rs. 279.7.

The findings of the manufacturing
sector show that irrespective of the education levels, the salaries are still
very low, even for a Master’s degree holder, the median hourly salary stands at
Rs. 260.8, the report noted.

With this collaboration, these
telcos can reach a potential customer base of around 1 billion in more than 80
countries, besides allowing partner businesses to more efficiently and quickly
bring innovative products and services.

The alliance is an open network
of 'like-minded' operators worldwide with complementary geographical footprints.

It focuses on exchanging best
practices on how to bring partner propositions to the market, on joint efforts
in partner scouting and will also exchange knowledge about upcoming trends and
services amongst the group.

The alliance is covering all relevant
product categories within an operator's business, mobile as well as fixed, B2C
as well as B2B.

Currently, the alliance has
established relationships with 30 innovative partner businesses including
AirBnB, Celltick, Disconnect, Idoomoo, and Mojio amongst others and will be
expanding to additional operators soon.

Vedanta, Odisha Govt tie up to commission Aluminum Park

Vedanta Limited has reached an
understanding with the Government of Odisha to commission an aluminum park in
Jharsuguda. The two sides reached an intention sharing on the sidelines of the
Make in India Week in Mumbai today and a MoU would be signed in few months.

Abhijit Pati, CEO — Aluminum,
Vedanta Limited said the park would attract an investment of Rs 1,000 crore in
the first phase. The park would have units manufacturing foils, conductors and
other aluminum users. Vedanta would be supplying molten aluminum metal from its
adjoining plant in the area.

It would take 12-18 months to
come up, Pati said in a teleconference. He said the park would be spread over
204 acre of government land adjacent to the Vedanta smelter in Jharsuguda.
Permission for land acquisition was underway.

Mahindra & Mahindra to invest Rs 8,000 cr in Maharashtra

Automotive manufacturer Mahindra
& Mahindra (M&M) plans to invest Rs 8,000 crore in manufacturing plants
in Maharashtra as part of its expansion plan.

This investment will be made over
a period of 7 years and will be utilised towards infrastructure development,
product development and capacity expansion for vehicles to be rolled out from
Mahindra's plants in Maharashtra. The projects will qualify as 'Ultra Mega
Project'.

An MoU to this effect was signed
by Apurva Chandra, principal secretary (industries), Government of Maharashtra,
and Dr Pawan Goenka, executive director, Mahindra & Mahindra at the
on-going Make in India Week event in Mumbai.

India –

Swachh Sarvekshan results: Mysuru is India's cleanest among 73 cities

As per the Swachh Survekshan
results announced by the government on Monday, ​Dhanbad in Bihar was said to be
the dirtiest city while Mysuru won the crown for the cleanest city.

Mysuru was judged cleanest among
73 cities.

Swachh Survekshan results is a
cleanliness monitor based on extensive surveys across Indian cities carried out
by Quality Council of India (QCI).

On the other hand, Navi Mumbai
and Greater Mumbai made were grouped in "leader cities".

On the other hand, Chandigarh,
Tiruchirapalli, Delhi (NDMC) and Vishakapatnam came after Mysuru in the top
five cities which have high levels of sanitation and cleanliness.

In the Aspiring Leaders category
Panaji leads the pack while Bihar's capital Patna was bunched in the group of
laggards category.

Best Performing city in
Information, Education and Behaviour Change Communication (IEBC) activity was
Tiruchirappalli.

The best performing city in North
East was Gangtok and Greater Mumbai got the Best Performing city among Mega
Cities.

LAMITYE 2016, the 7th joint
military training exercise between the Indian Army and the Seychelles People’s
Defence Forces (SPDF) began on 15 February 2016.

It will be a 2-week long exercise
till 28 February 2016 and conducted at Seychelles Defence Academy (SDA) in
Victoria, Seychelles.

Lamitye, which means friendship
in Creole dialect, will be conducted with the aim of enhancing military
cooperation and interoperability between the two countries.

Barsimlaguri Becomes Northeast's First 'Smart Village'

A remote nondescript,
insurgency-ravaged village in Assam along Indo- Bhutan border has earned the
distinction of being the area’s first smart village.

Barsimaluguri, about 11 km from
the Indo-Bhutan border, in Baksa district has been turned into a model smart
village with 100 per cent toilets, solar power and pure drinking water,
following an initiative taken by a few individuals under the aegis of Nanda Talukdar
Foundation (NTF).

The work to turn Barsimaluguri, a
hamlet of 234 households of farmers, small traders and daily wage earners, into
a smart village began on January 15, 2015 and the first step in this direction
was to set up a model village working committee led by villagers Dinesh Bhuyan
and Dipu Choudhury.

The first work initiated by the
committee was setting up the water purification plant and now this village is
perhaps the only one in the region to have a reverse osmosis plant.

1st Mega Food Park in Madhya Pradesh inaugurated at Panwa

1st Mega Food Park (MFP) of
Madhya Pradesh was on 12 February 2016 inaugurated at Panwa village in Kasarwad
tehsil of Khargone district.

The MFP, named after Indus, was
inaugurated by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister of Food Processing
Industries.

Details related to the Mega Food Park

It was set up by M/s Indus mega
Food Part Pvt. Ltd at an estimated cost of 127.70 crore rupees in an area of
53.78 acres.

It has a Central Processing
Centre at Khargone and three Primary Processing Centres are being set up at
Bedia, Ratlam and Ujjain to provide strong backward linkages.

Appointments –

Jugnoo ropes in TV star Saumya Tondon as brand ambassador

Jugnoo, leading mobile app that
offers largest network of auto rickshaws across country, has signed a dual deal
with popular TV and film actress Saumya Tandon.

The actress who has been
appointed ambassador will also invest in the auto rickshaw agregator.

The association is in alignment
with the new fad of Indian start-ups being backed by Bollywood. Celebrities are
either putting in money or endorsing products by becoming their brand
ambassadors.

While their monetary investment
definitely helps, but the popularity factor they induce into the entire
scenario is commendable.

Saumya Tandon is currently
playing 'Anita' in popular comedy series 'Bhabhi Ji Ghar Par Hai'. She also had
the opportunity to work with Shah Rukh Khan as co-host in 'Zor Ka Jhatka: Total
Wipeout'.

Hypercity names Ramesh Menon as new CEO

Shoppers Stop-owned hypermarket
chain HyperCITY today announced appointment of key management executives, key
among them being Ramesh Menon as chief executive officer. Menon was earlier
with Reliance Communcations as national head of wireless operations.

Yogesh Bisht was named vice
president (human resources). Bisht has 21 years of experience in hospitality,
retail and real estate.

Hypercity has named Manoj Jain as
vice president of marketing, loyalty and visual merchandising.

Ashok Chawla appointed as Chairman of TERI

The Governing Council of TERI on
12 February 2016 appointed Ashok Chawla, former Finance Secretary to the
Government of India and former Chairman of the Competition Commission, as its
new Chairman.

Chawla replaced B V Sreekantan,
who was serving as the Chairman of TERI. Ajay Mathur, who had replaced Rajendra
Kumar Pachauri as director-general when the latter was made executive
vice-president, was also included in the governing council.

On the other hand, the Council
also announced that Pachauri, who had been the Head of the Institute since 1982
will be on leave from TERI, TERI Governing Council, and TERI University.

Indian-American Ranvir Trehan named Kennedy Centre trustee

President Barack Obama plans to
appoint Ranvir Trehan, an alumnus of the Birla Institute of Technology and
Science in India, as general trustee on Board of the John F. Kennedy Centre for
the Performing Arts in the American capital.

Dedicated to the memory of
President John F. Kennedy, the Kennedy Centre is the busiest performing arts
facility in the US and annually hosts about 2,000 music, dance and theatre
performances for audiences totalling nearly two million.

It the also supports artists in
the creation of new work and serves as a leader in arts education.

Awards & Honors –

69th BAFTA Awards Given

The 69th British Academy Films
Awards (BAFTAs) were announced on 14 February 2016. The award ceremony was held at the Royal Opera House in London.

The awards were announced to
honour the best British and international contributions to film in 2015.

Wilderness drama The Revenant,
starring Leonardo DiCaprio, won the Best Film Award. Brooklyn was named the
Outstanding British Film while Inside Out won the Best Animated Film. Amy won
the award in Best Documentary category.

Awards

Leading Actor - Leonardo DiCaprio
for The Revenant

Leading Actress - Brie Larson for
Room

Supporting Actor - Mark Rylance
for Bridge of Spies

Supporting Actress - Kate Winslet
for Steve Jobs

Best Director - Alejandro G.
Iñárritu for The Revenant

Tata Steel wins TIME's best in class for manufacturing award

American publishing company, Time
Inc on Sunday announced the winners of the inaugural TIME India awards,
honouring leaders for manufacturing excellence in India, at the Make in India
week here.

McKinsey & Company is the
knowledge partner for the awards. The awards encompassed three categories: Best
in class manufacturing, manufacturing innovator of the year and young maker of
the year.

Tata Steel won the award for best
in class for manufacturing, while Hero MotoCorp was named the manufacturing
innovator of the year and Yogesh and Rajesh Agrawal of Ajanta Pharma Limited
were declared winners of the TIME India Young Maker of the Year.

Film on conservation efforts by Nagaland villagers won Golden Beaver
Award

Nagaland is changing, But..., a
film on conservation efforts by villagers, on 13 February 2016 won the Golden
Beaver Best Film Award in the institutional category at the 6th National
Science Film Festival and Competition in Mumbai.

The film also received the
technical excellence award for best sound design at the festival, organized by
Vigyan Prasar of the Department of Science and Technology.

Renowned film maker M S Sathyu
presented the award to the director of the film, Gurmeet Sapal.

Days –

World Radio Day observed on 13 February

World Radio Day was observed
globally on 13 February 2016 with the theme Radio in Times of Emergency and
Disaster.

To mark the occasion, various
activities conducted across India celebrating importance of radio in the day to
day life.

In Odisha, a two-day annual
international event Outreach International Radio Fair 2016 was inaugurated in
Bhubaneswar.

Sports –

Sania Mirza, Martina Hingis won 2016 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy

Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner
Martina Hingis on 14 February 2016 won the 2016 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy in
St. Petersburg, Russia.

To win the title, the top-seeded
Indo-Swiss pair defeated the Russian-Czech team of Vera Dushevina and Barbora Krejcikova
by 6-3 6-1 in the women’s doubles final.

For the duo, the victory in the
final was consequent 40 match win. Also, the title was the fourth in the 2016
season and the 13th overall.

Belgian Hugo Broos appointed as Cameroon's new football coach

The Cameroon Football Federation
has announced that Belgian coach Hugo Broos was appointed as the new coach of
the national team.

The 63-year-old former defender
of Anderlecht and Club Brugge coached the two Belgian teams and also trained
Turkey's Trabzonspor and UAE's Al-Jazira, among others, reports Efe.

Broos's assistant will be his
compatriot Sven Vandenbroeck, the governing body said on Saturday.

West Indies beats India to win their first U-19 World Cup

The West Indies produced an
outstanding bowling performance to outclass India by five wickets in the final
match to win their maiden U-19 World Cup cricket tournament at the Sher-e-Bangla
National Stadium here on Sunday.

Batting first, India were bundled
out for a meagre 145 runs in 45.1 overs, thanks to Ryan John (3-38) and Alzarri
Joseph (3-39).

In reply, Keacy Carty scored a
match-winning knock of unbeaten 52 alongside Keemo Paul (40 not out) as the
Windies chased down the total, reaching the target in 49.3 overs.

Bangladesh all-rounder Mehedi
Hasan was awarded the Player of the Series trophy.

World –

Sindh becomes first Pakistan province to adopt Hindu Marriage Bill

Pakistan’s Sindh Assembly today
passed the Hindu Marriage Bill making the province the first in the country to
allow the minority community to register their marriages, amid calls from a
leading Hindu group to remove a controversial clause in the landmark bill.

The bill, moved in the assembly
by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nisar Khuhro, will apply to entire Sindh
province, which has a sizeable population of Hindus.

It was passed after a national
parliamentary panel last week cleared its draft, paving way for registration of
marriage and divorce for the Hindu community in Pakistan.

The bill fixes the minimum age of
marriage at 18.

According to the bill, it is
necessary that a marriage is solemnised after consent of both male and female
and at least two witnesses must be present at the time of the solemnisation and
registration of the marriage.

According to the bill, every
marriage being solemnised under this act will be registered with the union
council/ward within 45 days of the solemnisation.

Biocon gets its first generics approval in the European Union

Biopharma major Biocon has
received its first generic formulations approval in the regulated markets for a
drug to reduce cholesterol. The company will begin selling its Rosuvastatin
Calcium tablets indicated for hyperlipidemia or mixed dyslipidemia in 15
European countries starting financial year 2017.

Biocon was the first generic
company to receive Certificate of Suitability (CEP) for the formulation from
the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines (EDQM) and will
collaborate with regional partners to market the drug. The move will allow the
company to address a $1.2 billion opportunity that exists in Europe.

The approval will also make it
easier for Biocon to get regulatory clearance to sell its drugs in emerging
markets which follow what US and European regulators say. It will also boost
Biocon’s generic formulations business which is targeting 20-25 filings over
the next few years.

Obituaries –

Indian Ambassador to Tajikistan Biraja Prasad passes away

Biraja Prasad, who was posted
recently as Ambassador to Tajikistan, passed away on Saturday following a
massive cardiac arrest.

Mr. Prasad, who belonged to
Odisha, suffered a heart attack during sleep, family sources said here. Prasad,
a career diplomat, had joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1998.

He had held different diplomatic
assignments such as third secretary and then second secretary (Political) in
Embassy of India, Moscow (Russian Federation) from 2000 to 2002 and Second
Secretary (Political and Commercial).